Pentagon embraces ‘conflict on cartels’ after saying killing of 14 individuals onboard alleged drug-trafficking vessels in three separate operations
Pete Hegseth, the Trump administration’s defence secretary, introduced on social media that US forces killed 14 individuals onboard alleged drug-trafficking vessels in three separate army operations on 27 October, and vowed that suspected narcotics smugglers will face the identical therapy as terrorist organizations.
“These narco-terrorists have killed extra Individuals than Al-Qaeda, and they are going to be handled the identical,” Hegseth wrote Tuesday morning, including: “We are going to observe them, we’ll community them, after which, we’ll hunt and kill them.”
There was one survivor. Hegseth mentioned the strikes got here on the course of the Donald Trump.
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Up to date at 10.14 EDT
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Trump could host Central Asian leaders – report
Donald Trump will reportedly meet the presidents of 5 Central Asian nations subsequent week in what marks a uncommon high-level gathering targeted on the resource-rich former Soviet republics, a supply aware of the plans tells Reuters.
Ought to the 6 November assembly occur, it can deliver collectively the leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
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Up to date at 11.39 EDT
Hugo Lowell
The justification for the strikes has been extensively disputed by authorized consultants. For one, when the US killed al-Qaida members, Congress had approved the usage of power. In concentrating on drug cartel members, the administration has relied on Trump’s article II powers to defend the US in opposition to an imminent risk.
The newest boat strikes come because the US seems destined to begin hitting land-based targets within the coming weeks, after the Pentagon despatched its most superior plane service and its strike group to the Caribbean — a serious escalation within the Trump administration’s acknowledged conflict in opposition to drug cartels.
The transfer is predicted deliver the USS Gerald Ford, with its dozens of fighter jets, and its accompanying destroyers, to the coast of Venezuela by roughly the top of the week, based on an individual aware of the matter.
Sending the service strike group to the Caribbean is the clearest signal so far that the administration intends to dramatically develop the scope of its deadly army marketing campaign from hitting small boats alleged to be carrying medicine certain for the US to targets on land.
Learn extra from my colleague Hugo Lowell right here
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A GOP Home member pushes for Mamdani’s deportation
A far-right Republican legislator has urged federal authorities to analyze whether or not Zohran Mamdani, the New York Metropolis mayoral candidate, dedicated naturalization fraud by allegedly failing to reveal his Democratic Socialists of America affiliation and political beliefs when turning into a US citizen.
The newest freak-out over Mamdani’s potential ascension to mayoralty comes from Andy Ogles, the Tennessee congressperson who claims in a letter to lawyer common Pam Bondi that Mamdani “praised terrorists” and held views that “brazenly despised the US structure” in 2017, and argues such positions ought to have been revealed in the course of the citizenship course of.
“If we deport Mamdani for breaking REAL legal guidelines, we will save NYC and take again our nation from the Marxists who need to scale back America to a third-world wasteland,” he wrote on X.
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Up to date at 11.26 EDT
Mike Johnson, whereas speaking to reporters, mentioned the pardons made by Joe Biden are “invalid on their face”.
“I was a constitutional lawyer,” the Home speaker added. “I’d like to take this case, go into the courtroom and make that legislation to set the precedent”.
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Up to date at 11.23 EDT
The Monday strikes hit 4 boats in three waves within the japanese Pacific ocean, Hegseth mentioned. There have been 14 confirmed killed, and one survivor, who was taken by Mexican search and rescue groups.
Previous to the missiles on Monday, US forces have carried out at the least eight strikes in opposition to boats off the Caribbean over the previous couple of weeks, killing 40 individuals.
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Pentagon embraces ‘conflict on cartels’ after saying killing of 14 individuals onboard alleged drug-trafficking vessels in three separate operations
Pete Hegseth, the Trump administration’s defence secretary, introduced on social media that US forces killed 14 individuals onboard alleged drug-trafficking vessels in three separate army operations on 27 October, and vowed that suspected narcotics smugglers will face the identical therapy as terrorist organizations.
“These narco-terrorists have killed extra Individuals than Al-Qaeda, and they are going to be handled the identical,” Hegseth wrote Tuesday morning, including: “We are going to observe them, we’ll community them, after which, we’ll hunt and kill them.”
There was one survivor. Hegseth mentioned the strikes got here on the course of the Donald Trump.
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Up to date at 10.14 EDT
The GOP-led committee additionally launched a employees report based mostly on a 14-witness deposition alleging Biden’s advisors orchestrated a cover-up involving scripted appearances and restricted media entry.
It claims that senior strategist Mike Donilon and different key advisors “stood to achieve financially and politically” from sustaining Biden’s candidacy whereas suppressing proof of his decline.
Three aides, together with Biden’s doctor Kevin O’Connor, invoked fifth modification protections in the course of the probe.
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Up to date at 11.25 EDT
In a letter this morning, James Comer, the Home oversight chair, has requested the justice division to analyze whether or not Joe Biden’s aides improperly used an autopen to signal government actions, claiming the previous president’s internal circle hid his cognitive decline whereas exercising presidential authority with out authorization.
“Whereas President Biden’s deterioration was evident to the American individuals, and consequently, sturdy methods ought to have been put in place to doc government actions mirrored the precise will of the president, the President’s internal circle took no motion to ascertain such a report,” Comer wrote within the letter.
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Up to date at 11.26 EDT
Trump’s authorized group look to overturn his prison conviction for enterprise fraud
In a 96-page submitting submitted late Monday, Donald Trump’s attorneys argued that the supreme courtroom’s ruling on presidential immunity ought to have prevented Manhattan prosecutors from introducing proof about his conduct whereas in workplace, in an attraction seeking to overturn his historic prison conviction.
Trump’s authorized group mentioned that testimony from Hope Hicks, his former White Home communications director, ought to by no means have been allowed at trial, together with social media posts Trump made throughout his presidency. The proof was utilized by prosecutors from the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace to assist safe Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of enterprise fraud associated to concealing hush cash funds to porn star Stormy Daniels.
“This case ought to by no means have seen the within of a courtroom, not to mention resulted in a conviction,” his attorneys wrote.
That argument was already dismissed late final 12 months by Justice Juan Merchan, the trial choose, who discovered that the proof in query associated to Trump’s personal conduct somewhat than official presidential acts.
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Up to date at 11.28 EDT
Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican congresswoman and potential gubernatorial candidate who berated Ivy League presidents in a congressional listening to about antisemitism and pro-Palestine demonstrations on school campuses, is writing a e book that accuses America’s most prestigious universities of abandoning tutorial excellence for “radical leftist groupthink,” her writer introduced Tuesday.
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In a brand new letter, Home Democrats are warning three high Justice Division officers – together with two who beforehand defended Donald Trump in prison proceedings – that they might face prosecution in the event that they approve Donald Trump’s suggestion of a $230m fee from American taxpayers.
They’re calling it “maybe probably the most brazen violation” of constitutional anti-corruption provisions in US historical past.
“Any DOJ official who indicators off on a fee to President Trump in violation of this constitutional command will likely be personally complicit in that violation and topic to authorized penalties”, the lawmakers wrote.
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Up to date at 09.26 EDT
Donald Trump and Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of Uzbekistan, will meet in Washington subsequent week, mentioned Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, on Tuesday after assembly officers in Uzbekistan.
The go to “ought to assist pave the best way for a terrific assembly between our presidents subsequent week in Washington,” Landau wrote in a put up on X.
“We very a lot loved our candid and far-ranging dialogue. Many alternatives to accomplice sooner or later.”
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Up to date at 11.53 EDT
Donald Trump mentioned he would meet with Jensen Huang, the Nvidia chief government, on Wednesday.
Trump made the remark Tuesday in an handle to enterprise leaders in Tokyo earlier than touring to South Korea.
The US AI chipmaker mentioned final week that Huang plans to fulfill “world leaders and high Korean executives” when he attends the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation CEO Summit in South Korea.
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Up to date at 11.53 EDT
Eric Berger
A gaggle of New Yorkers has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the state’s board of elections alleging that its congressional map unconstitutionally dilutes the voting energy of Black and Latino residents of Staten Island.
The criticism, filed Monday, is one other volley within the battle between Democrats and Republicans to redraw congressional districts in a approach that favors their get together prematurely of the midterm elections.
The go well with issues the eleventh congressional district, which is represented by Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican, and challenges a part of the map authorized by the bulk Democratic New York legislature lower than two years in the past.
However within the wake of Donald Trump’s name for Texas and different purple states to redraw their maps to assist the get together decide up extra seats in 2026, Democrats have responded by making an attempt to do the identical factor in states like California and Maryland.
Democrats in California and New York making an attempt to counter Republican efforts may very well be harm by their very own efforts to stop gerrymandering, mentioned Michael Kang, a legislation professor at Northwestern College and an knowledgeable on redistricting.
“The Democrats try to reply, however they’ve a lot higher obstacles – authorized obstacles – of their approach in locations like California and New York, the place they’ve engaged in this sort of good authorities redistricting reform and put hurdles in the best way of having the ability to partisan gerrymander and accomplish that on a mid-decade foundation,” Kang mentioned.
In New York, the lawsuit was filed by Elias Legislation Group, which has additionally labored with Democrats on courtroom circumstances regarding redistricting and congressional maps in Texas, Nevada and Wisconsin.
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Ramon Antonio Vargas
Mario Guevara has mentioned he could have been “the primary” immigrant journalist whom Donald Trump’s administration deported from the US whereas working – however the Emmy award-winner added: “I don’t suppose [I’ll] be the one one.”
“Simply watch out as a result of [immigration agents are] very aggressive,” Guevara not too long ago mentioned from El Salvador in a digital interview with the US Freedom of the Press Tracker, throughout which he was requested whether or not he had any message for different immigrant colleagues within the trade. “They confirmed they’re – they don’t care about journalists. They don’t imagine within the media.”
He continued: “They imagine the media [are] in opposition to them. They see the media as an enemy … They’ve the ability. They’ll do all the pieces they need. It may be harmful for us.”
Guevara delivered that chilling admonition amid what seemed to be the Salvadorian’s most in depth public remarks but on his case, which culminated in his deportation from the US on 3 October because the federal immigration crackdown pursued by Trump all through his second presidency barreled on.
On Sunday, three days after Guevara’s Tracker interview, the British journalist Sami Hamdi was detained by federal immigration authorities at San Francisco worldwide airport.
A Trump administration official mentioned Hamdi confronted deportation after his detention and visa revocation – a plight which the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) alleged was retaliation for the Muslim political commentator’s having criticized Israel whereas touring the US.
“We’re journalists – we attempt to be goal, however generally we now have to report what’s going on,” Guevara instructed the Tracker’s Briana Erickson. “They’ll suppose we’re in opposition to them even when it’s not true.
“You possibly can have retaliation for that. That was my case. In all probability I used to be the primary one – however I don’t suppose [I’ll] be the one one.”
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The Trump administration on Monday requested the supreme courtroom to permit it to fireplace the director of the US Copyright Workplace.
The administration’s latest emergency attraction to the excessive courtroom was filed a month and a half after a federal appeals courtroom in Washington held that the official, Shira Perlmutter, couldn’t be unilaterally fired.
Almost 4 weeks in the past, the complete District of Columbia circuit courtroom of appeals refused to rethink that ruling.
The case is the most recent that pertains to Donald Trump’s authority to put in his personal individuals on the head of federal businesses. The supreme courtroom has largely allowed Trump to fireplace officers, at the same time as courtroom challenges proceed.
However this case issues an workplace that’s inside the Library of Congress. Perlmutter is the register of copyrights and in addition advises Congress on copyright points.
Solicitor common D John Sauer wrote in his submitting on Monday that regardless of the ties to Congress, the register “wields government energy” in regulating copyrights.
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Trump lauds Japan’s ‘nice’ feminine chief on go to to Asia
Whats up and welcome to the US politics reside weblog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will likely be bringing you all the most recent information traces over the subsequent few hours.
We begin with information that president Donald Trump lavished reward on Japan’s first feminine chief Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Tuesday, welcoming her pledge to speed up a army buildup and signing offers on commerce and uncommon earths.
Takaichi, a protegee of Trump’s late good friend and {golfing} buddy Japanese chief Shinzo Abe, applauded Trump’s push to resolve world conflicts, vowing to appoint him for the Nobel Peace Prize, based on Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt.
Each governments launched a listing of initiatives within the areas of power, synthetic intelligence and important minerals during which Japanese firms are eyeing investments of as much as $400 billion within the US, Reuters reported.
Tokyo pledged to supply $550 billion of strategic US investments, loans and ensures earlier this 12 months as a part of a deal to win a reprieve from Trump’s punishing import tariffs.
These gestures could mood any Trump calls for for Tokyo to spend extra in the direction of its safety within the face of an more and more assertive China, calls that Takaichi sought to go off by promising to fast-track plans to extend defence spending to 2% of GDP.
“Every thing I do know from Shinzo and others, you’ll be one of many nice prime ministers,” Trump instructed Takaichi as they sat all the way down to discussions, accompanied by their delegations, at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace.
“I’d additionally prefer to congratulate you on being the primary girl prime minister. It’s an enormous deal,” Trump added.
In different developments:
Trump left the door open to a 3rd time period, a constitutional impossibility, saying he “would love” to do it however wouldn’t use a vice presidential loophole, which he referred to as “too cute.” “Am I not ruling it out? I imply you’ll have to inform me,” he mentioned in a gaggle on Monday.
Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib responded to Trump’s refusal to rule out a 3rd time period: “No approach in hell we’re going to let that occur.”
In different 2028 information, Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, instructed CBS Information Sunday Morning he plans to decide on whether or not to run for president in 2028 as soon as the 2026 midterm elections are over.
The pinnacle of America’s largest federal employees union says it’s time to finish the federal government shutdown, now the second-longest in US historical past, as lots of of hundreds of staff miss one other spherical of paychecks.
Republican speaker of the Home Mike Johnson blasted the chamber’s Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries for his endorsement of Zohran Mamdani within the New York Metropolis mayor’s race.
And talking of that shutdown, Johnson was requested whether or not he would name lawmakers again to Washington. He mentioned he was “evaluating this daily”.
Indiana governor Mike Braun introduced that he’s calling a particular session to think about redrawing congressional districts within the state, the most recent state to work on its maps forward of 2026.
As Republican states launch extra redistricting efforts, Democrats in blue states are nonetheless deciding how or if they’ll reply. Home minority chief Hakeem Jeffries is claimed to be headed to Illinois right now, whereas in Virginia, the Democratic Home speaker referred to as a particular session targeted on redistricting.
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